1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera having a photometric means for metering the brightness of a subject, a focus detecting means for detecting a focal state of a lens, and a line-of-sight sensing means for sensing the position of a line of sight within a viewfinder.
2. Description of the Related Art
A camera, having a photometric means for metering the brightness of a subject and an auto-focusing device for detecting a focal state of a lens and driving the lens to focus the lens is already popular.
A focus detecting means, arranged in an auto-focusing device, that detects the focal state not only at one point within a viewfinder (picture) but at multiple points (range-finding points) has been known. In this type of focus detecting means having multiple range-finding points, a range-finding point is selected on the basis of a photographer's watch point within the viewfinder (on the basis of line-of-sight information sent from a line-of-sight sensing means).
The aforesaid conventional camera, however, requires a certain amount of time for controlling a photometric means and computing a photometric value, a certain amount of time for controlling an auto-focusing device, and a certain amount of time for detecting a watch point within a viewfinder. These cumulative time amounts deteriorate a response characteristic of a camera; that is, by reducing speedup of auto-focusing or degrading a frame rate.